What is CliftonStrengths?
CliftonStrengths is a tool to help individuals discover their top areas of talent, so that they can develop and apply these skills more effectively. People who focus on their Strengths are more likely to have higher levels of engagement, productivity, and well-being.
Developed by , the CliftonStrengths assessment consists of 34 Strengths. Gallup defines a Strength as the ability to provide consistent, near-perfect performance in any given activity. Taking the assessment allows individuals to identify, understand, and apply their most natural Strengths.
CliftonStrengths is a component of the First-Year Experience (FYE 2100) course curriculum. All students who register for FYE-2100 will receive a free CliftonStrengths code to discover their Top 5 Strengths, as well as a classroom presentation and the option to pursue an individual coaching session.
Data from previous FYE classes indicates that students who use CliftonStrengths:
- Improve their understanding of themselves and their self-confidence
- Better connect with their peers and understand how to better work on teams
- Feel affirmed in their choice of major/career
- Understand how their Strengths can help them plan for the future
More about CliftonStrengths
What students are saying about Strengths:
I enjoyed doing this activity because for me at least, it is very easy to point out all my flaws, and very difficult for me to point out my strengths. This activity helped me recognize these strengths and understand how they apply to me, and how I can use them to my advantage to be a stronger and more put together person. Doing this activity helped boost not only my confidence about myself, but others as well because it gave me something that I can use to my benefit and that I can be proud of.
Overall, I am so glad that I was able to participate in this opportunity. It helped me learn more about myself and be able to see what qualities I thrive in and makes me, me. Without StrengthsQuest, I would have never known that some of my hidden qualities, like restorative and connectedness, have so much impact on my life.
I think that taking the test was one of the more helpful tasks in our FYE class because I really learned a lot about myself. I think that after learning my strengths I began to realize them more in my daily life. I am now more aware and more willing to learn how to develop not only my personality of strengths but also develop myself.
I often struggled to get along with my parents during my senior year of high school. Ever since I have been at Western, going home and visiting my parents has been a great time. I believe that discovering my strengths have given me tools that I wasn't always aware of.
Knowing Strengths enabled me to see what I do well in a leadership role and what I can improve on.
My Strengths taught me how to prepare and do better and job interviews.
Integrating Strengths into my Communications course allowed us to tie course material concepts to the students' knowledge of themselves which made what they were learning that much more real and concrete.